6.1 KiB
PRP v1 expressiveness audit
Verdict
PRP v1 is sufficient for runner lifecycle, replay integrity, negotiated runner
features, runtime/issue-thread request routing, structured work disposition,
terminal causality, and provider-neutral semantic-control-plane receipts. The
optional semantic_tool and terminal.stopReason envelopes now type tool
invocation, authorization denial, redaction, optimistic concurrency, mutation
receipts, artifacts, governed targets, causal continuations, and budget stops.
They remain receipts for control-plane-owned operations, not a provider tool
catalog or permission to move control-plane policy into the runner.
prp-v1-expressiveness-crosswalk.json is the machine-checked source for this
verdict. Its Vitest gate rejects an unclassified required fact, a fact justified
only by a permissive field, an unbounded control-plane-local fact, or an
accepted additive change without required fixtures.
Evidence boundary
This audit compares the canonical capability authority and its traceability
inputs, the real-surface ledger, the deterministic mock, live Codex/runnerd
transport, and PRP schemas/replay fixtures. The wire contract is not the tool
catalog: capability placement controls exposure, while PRP carries execution
and causality. generic_api_request remains test-only and cannot satisfy any
coverage row.
What v1 proves directly
capabilities.schema.jsonnegotiates driver identity, session reuse, steering, interruption, resume, runtime requests, structured results, typed events, and explicit unsupported features.- Events have stable source instance/event ids, source ordering, run/session/ turn/item correlation, priority, and an explicit v1 schema version. Replay rejects unsupported required event versions, requires byte-equivalent duplicate source events, records source gaps, and is side-effect free.
- Commands have controller ordering and preconditions; runtime and issue-thread requests have typed kinds/statuses; results require completion claims, verification, artifacts, and blocker/yield continuations where applicable.
run.terminalis a typed terminal envelope with terminal state, work assessment, and issue-status decision references. Existing golden replay, duplicate-event, unknown-optional-fields, and unsupported-required-version fixtures demonstrate the compatibility boundary.capabilities.semanticToolsadvertises versioned, provider-neutral operation availability and redaction rules. Pairedmcp_app.tool_inputandmcp_app.tool_resultevents carry one safesemantic_toolenvelope per call.terminal.stopReasoncarries a safe budget/cost aggregate and the decision receipt that stopped the run. Evaltrace_completenessreads these PRP wire receipts when available while retaining the existing live-evidence fallback.
Landed additive v1 envelope
The correction is one optional, versioned semantic_tool envelope for
mcp_app.tool_input / mcp_app.tool_result, plus an optional
terminal.stopReason envelope. It defines:
- operation id, call id, correlation ids, idempotency key, outcome, stable code, retryability, and audit/operation receipt id;
- admitted input/output references or digests, redaction disposition, and only safe identifiers; never raw credentials, hidden-company identifiers, or secret payloads;
- authorization boundary (
company,actor,active_task,grant,governed_action,lock, orrevision), current revision where safe, and a deterministic conflict/duplicate result; - artifact/work-product references linked to the semantic receipt and terminal result; immutable interaction/approval document or decision targets; and budget stop reason/aggregate/decision id.
This remains additive because existing v1 consumers can ignore the optional typed envelopes. The reducer intentionally does not project them into session state; they supply inspectable trace evidence only. Unknown optional fields are accepted, while an unknown required envelope version fails closed.
Classification and fixture plan
The crosswalk assigns every required fact to exactly one of: direct v1,
compositional v1 with a listed invariant, control-plane-local, additive v1,
missing fixture/docs, or breaking v2 work. Direct and compositional support is
never inferred merely from additionalProperties: true.
The additive change graduated to direct support with these fixtures and golden projections:
semantic-tool-artifact-happy-path.json— artifact and work-product receipt;semantic-tool-denial-redaction.json— denied/redacted with no fallback;semantic-tool-conflict-duplicate-retry.json— stale conflict and exact retry;semantic-tool-governance-wake-monitor.json— immutable governed targets and continuation chain;budget-cost-stop-reason.json— typed terminal budget/cost stop;semantic-tool-unknown-optional-envelope.json— optional fields accepted with unchanged projection;semantic-tool-unsupported-required-version.json— required v2 envelope rejected fail-closed.
The six accepted fixtures replay to TypeScript/Rust parity summaries and golden snapshots. Shared high-risk semantic vectors compare normalized receipt and state-diff observations across deterministic mock and production bindings.
Explicit exclusions
Checkout/release, task selection, wake routing, budget enforcement, audit and run persistence/replay, assignment, and monitor management are control-plane actions, not runner-wire semantic operations. Cross-company discovery, broad audit access, destructive document lifecycle, and company administration are breaking v2/product-governance work. The runner must report typed unavailable or denied outcomes rather than tunnel those operations through generic payloads.
Review checklist
- Golden replay, duplicate/retry, and unknown-version fixtures accompany every accepted protocol schema/event addition.
- A semantic receipt is typed and safe before any surface is marked supported.
- Control-plane-local decisions stay out of the semantic tool wire.
- Eval trace scoring consumes wire receipts without changing projection semantics.